Mile-Long Petition Against New Virginia Power Plant

On May 8 citizens of Southwest Virginia will be delivering the Mile-Long Petition to Dominion Virginia Power's headquarters in Richmond to tell them they don't want a new dirty coal-fired power plant in Wise County. Nearly 30,000 people have signed the petition so far. Join them at www.cleanenergyva.org.

-J.F.

Revisiting a Green Hero

We covered Chris Fennell in our Green Issue last July. Here's a look back at the article on the creative artist who makes sculptures out of only discarded materials. Pictured is one of Chris's new sculptures called Barn Pine Cone at Longwood College in Farmville, Virginia. Check out more at www.cfennell.org.



Green Hero: Christopher Fennell - Published in July 2007 Blue Ridge Outdoors
Christopher Fennell sees the beauty in everything—literally. His sculptures are all made from recycled materials. He takes demolished barns, broken bicycles, and downed trees and turns them into large-scale recognizable objects, and he’s managed to turn the innovative approach into a successful career, as his work is being displayed in cities all across America.
“Discarded materials are beautiful,” says Fennell. “They’re interesting in that they have a past. In taking things that would normally be going to a landfill and turning it into something that stays around for years, I can hopefully engage people’s creativity to think about using materials differently.”
Fennell built a series of wave sculptures out of wood salvaged from barns that were about to be torn down. Waves have been displayed in Charlottesville, Va., and Chattanooga, Tenn. The University of Georgia in Athens holds Bicycle Tornado, an intertwining storm of a sculpture that was welded out of hundreds of old bikes.
His ethic comes from growing up on a farm, where he says everything was reused, be it dinner scraps or cow manure. He got the idea one day when he passed by a barn that was falling apart. He saw something in the structure that most wouldn’t.
“When I see someone burn an old barn down or throw a dead oak tree in a wood chipper, I realize those things can used,” he says.
His work has also been used for more practical purposes beyond artistic appreciation. He just finished constructing a bus stop shelter out of old school buses for the city of Athens.
Fennell just moved his studio from Washington, D.C. to Birmingham, Ala., but his work really requires him to leave a transient lifestyle, usually making him traverse the country in his old pick-up. His latest project finds him working with high school students in Rock Island, Illinois. With the group, Fennell is removing driftwood from the Mississippi River and using it to build an entranceway to a local museum.
“People think to be a sculptor you have to have bronze, marble, and an expensive studio, but I make art out of things that fit in the back of my truck and a chainsaw.”

-J.F.

West Virginia Whiteout

I'm still buzzing from a weekend of snowboarding at Timberline Resort in West Virginia. By the time I hit Seneca Rocks on the drive over from Virginia, it was snowing sideways and the unplowed roads were a little hard to follow. When I got to the mountain, I quickly found myself winding through the trees in knee-deep powder and playing around in the soft fluffy stuff that I hadn't seen since I was a kid. I'm hoping for one more round before spring starts singing. Get out there and enjoy the last of the snow.

-J.F.

Buy Bill's Bus

Want to make a statement at the festivals this summer? Try rolling up in the King of Bluegrass' old tour bus. The former porter of genre pioneer Bill Monroe is for sale on eBay. Bidding starts at 19K, and in my opinion the best feature has to be the "3 bullet holes in the edge of the door where Monroe was apparently shot at leaving one of his concerts."

See for yourself here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Bill-Monroe-King-of-Bluegrass-one-of-a-kind-tour-bus_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6728QQihZ0%3Cbr%3E07QQitemZ170195765269QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

-J.F.

Get Rich at Snowshoe

A cool (literally) four grand is up for grabs at Snowshoe Mountain, which is posting a low temp of -2 degrees this week. This weekend the resort will host the West Virginia Open, an annual freestyle competition that will take place on Saturday, January 26. Known as the "region’s richest rail jam," the comp has a $4,000 cash purse on the table, as the top skier and snowboarder will each walk away with $2,000. Things kick off at at 5:30p.m. on Skidder Slope. More info: snowshoemtn.com.

-J.F.
www.blueridgeoutdoors.com

Words for Wise

Tomorrow morning the public will have a chance to speak out about the proposed building of another coal-fired power plant in Southwest Virginia. The State Corporation Commission is holding a public hearing in Richmond on Dominion Power’s proposal to build a new power plant in Wise County. People around the region have voiced concern about the proposed 585-megawatt facility, which would be built near the town of St. Paul. If the new plant is approved it will be built less than five miles from the coal-fired Clinch River plant operated by American Electric Power in nearby Carbo—a facility that according to the EPA emits 148 pounds of toxic mercury per year and accounts for 59 premature deaths annually. Citizens are also worried about increased mountaintop removal mining, which has already scarred one-fourth of the land in Wise.

Here are the hearing details courtesy of the Southern Environmental Law Center:

WHEN: Tuesday, January 8, at 10 a.m. (speakers must arrive before 9:45 a.m.)
WHERE: At the SCC Courtroom, 1300 East Main Street, Richmond
WHAT: The SCC is considering Dominion’s application for a “certificate of public convenience and necessity” to build the plant and a rate hike to pay for it.

-J.F.
www.blueridgeoutdoors.com